Yellowknife cuts proposed tax increase by half as 2017 budget passes

Yellowknife residents will see a 1.23 per cent tax increase in 2017 after city council passed next year's budget Monday evening.

The increase is just over half the 2.55 per cent tax increase originally proposed in the draft budget. That increase was reduced after council made some cuts during budget deliberations last week, including a $1.9-million plan to revitalize the city's downtown lot at 50th Street and 50th Avenue.

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Niels Konge was the only city councillor to vote against the modified budget, citing concerns about "putting the cart before the horse" when it came to two budget items: the establishment of a destination marketing organization for the city, and the addition of community safety officers to patrol the city's downtown.

In both cases, Konge argued, the city was hoping on legislative change from the territorial government — allowing the establishment of a hotel levy in the case of the destination marketing position, and allowing for the creation of community safety officer positions — and should instead wait for the changes to happen before allocating city funds.

"We're kind of jumping the gun," he said. "I think that we should be getting the legislation changed before we move on those two items."

Councillor Adrien Bell directly addressed Konge's concerns in his comments, saying that council's decisions provided a push to the territorial government to change its legislation.

"Sometimes, you have to roll up your sleeves and get it done, and I think that's what we're doing," he said.

Gymnastics Club's bid to have debt relieved fails

Council also voted against a motion Monday to forgive just over $101,000 in debt to the Yellowknife Gymnastics Club.

Councillors cited multiple reasons for not supporting the motion, including the fact that the Gymnastics Club is currently able to make the payments to service its debt, and a lack of clarity on how the city is being fair in providing funding to various Yellowknife sports clubs.

"We have heard that making those payments wasn't really a problem for the club," said Councillor Steve Payne. "If at any point it does become a financial hardship, we welcome you back."

"I think we can twist ourselves into a pretzel trying to figure out how to exactly treat everybody fairly," said Mayor Mark Heyck. "And frankly, I don't think that's entirely possible.

"Financially, this decision would have a negligible impact on the city. It's not a payment that we've been collecting or pursuing for several years now."

Mayor Heyck, who stepped down from his chair position to speak on and vote on the motion, was the sole vote in favour of forgiving the debt, a move also recommended by city administration.